Ok. You are never going to be able to completely manage everything your business depends on from your phone. But with thousands of applications designed for the the sole purpose of making life easier for small businesses, you can get pretty close. So here is a list of applications you can use to manage the daily tasks associated with running your business. Some are free, some are not. Use the tools you find compatible with your business’ structure and management style.
Viewing/Editing/Managing Documents
<li><a href="http://www.dataviz.com/products/documentstogo/iphone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>DocumentsToGo- Office Suite</strong></a>
With DocumentsToGo, you can access your Microsoft Offices files at anytime. View, edit and create new Work or Excel files, and view PowerPoint, PDF, iWork, Text and .RTF files.
This is the best rated multimedia PDF viewer, annotator and form filler.
With Dropbox you can carry and share your documents, videos and photos anywhere. Plus its free!
This PDF reader for iPad allows you to draw directly on a PDF page with your finger. You can also highlight, underline and cross-out for editing purposes, or create sticky-notes.
Book Keeping, Invoices and Expense Tracking
<li><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quickbooks-mobile/id393232373?mt=8" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>QuickBooks Mobile</strong></a>
Create invoices and get your customers’ information on the road. With this application you can manage outstanding balances, convert estimates to invoices, and email estimates, invoices and sales receipts all from your device.
Keep track of all your receipts to generate expense reports. Its easy. Just snap a picture of your receipt and Shoeboxed will enter the date, total, payment type, store and category. You can also create, send and export expense reports.
With MiniBooks, not only can you create, edit and send invoices, you can also search clients and contacts by invoice number or invoice status. Create, edit and send estimates and convert estimates into invoices. MiniBooks also has time tracking timers to help you stay on task and keep to your schedule.
Salesforce and Payroll Management
Helps you keep in touch with your sales team anytime and anywhere.
This app works with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. You can pay hourly, salary and even contract workers. Enter wages and hours for payroll, vacation, sick and personal time. Look at detailed reports of employee and company earnings, along with a calendar view of payroll deadlines, bank holidays and compliance updates. Conveniently deposit and file federal, state and local payroll taxes.
Time Management and Organization
<li><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/teuxdeux/id384291782?mt=8" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Teux Deux</strong></a>
This easy to use, well designed, simple to-do list allows you to manage multiple accounts (i.e. business, personal, etc.) and drag and drop tasks onto different days. Also includes a “Someday” category for those tasks without a specific due date, but you don’t want to forget. Easily sync with the Teux Deux web app. This is my personal favorite to-do list because of its simplicity.
Take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists, record voice reminders and save ideas, all with Evernote. This app makes all these things easily search-able and viewable in one place.
Like Teux Deux, this app can sync with its own web app. You can organize how you want to prioritize your tasks and see tasks nearby so you can plan your trips/errands accordingly. Also receive reminders via email, SMS or IM.
Organize tasks by goals using projects. Omnifocus allows you to keep track of tasks by project, place, person or date. Receive due date notifications. Like Remember the Milk, Omnifocus helps you to plan your errands according to locale.
Office Management
<li><a href="http://junecloud.com/software/iphone/delivery-status-touch.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Delivery Status</strong></a>
Keep track of all your packages. Easily view the latest status of all your packages and count down until estimated delivery. Delivery Status supports 30+ shipping companies including UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL, TNT, Canada Post, CityLink, Royal Mail and DPD.
Easily access any of your computers, files and applications remotely from your mobile device. LogMeIn also features a file manager for transferring and saving files remotely. Additionally, you can print documents from compatible printers and attach files to email.
Business Relationships
<li><a href="http://www.evernote.com/about/trunk/items/business-card-manager" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Business Card Manager (Evernote)</strong></a>
This application helps you store and manage your business cards by taking photos with your phone’s camera. You can also import photos of business cards from you Evernote account.
If you are interested in keeping tabs of all your contacts’ activities via social networking, gist allows you to see what all you business associates are up to in one place.
Engage Customers
<li><a href="https://foursquare.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>FourSquare</strong></a>
FourSquare is a social networking game that allows users to ‘check in’ to different locations and businesses and keep track of different tasks they perform. Use FourSquare to engage your customers by offering discounts to users who check in multiple times at your business location, or special promotions for the ‘mayor’ (user who has checked in the most at your store) of you business.
This application pays users to check-in and perform real-world tasks. Users are rewarded points, each point equaling 1 cent. Users can turn points into cash via pay-pal.
Placepop allows businesses to create virtual reward cards their customers can use, rather than having to carry around loyalty cards with them.
Use this application to create dynamic, mobile presentations to show potential clients. Create showrooms, portfolios, animations and more. Wow your customers anywhere. Keep an iPad handy in your store with your latest portfolio for customers to browse while they wait for service.
Graphic Design Apps
<li><a href="http://www.code-line.com/software/colorexpert/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Color Expert</strong></a>
This iPhone app features an interactive color wheel with multiple color schemes, such as Monochromatic, Analogous, Complementary, Split Complementary and Triadic. The Image Picker will find dominant colors from any photo you choose, helping you to find inspiration in just about anything, anywhere.
PANTONE helps you mix and match color palettes on the go and includes access to many PANTONE colors and color system libraries. Create your color palettes on the go.
Find out what font is used in an ad or poster. Take a photo and WhatTheFont identifies the font for you so you can use it for your own project later.
With so many smartphone applications, running a small business efficiently can be easier than ever. Don’t be afraid to try to integrate new technology and applications into your everyday business management. You may find yourself wondering how you ever got by without it.